January 31, 2003
Richard Halliburton on packing
"The pleasure of travel increases in direct proportion to the decrease of baggage." --Richard Halliburton, Royal Road to Romance (1925)...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 30, 2003
Patrick Kavanagh on epiphany
"O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web / Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 29, 2003
Richard Todd on returning to places
"Returning to a place is one of the little pleasures of travel: you perceive it differently over the years, and...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 28, 2003
Rolf Potts on travel preparation
"You can't ever dream up the perfect travel formula while you're still sitting at home. What seems like paradise when...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 27, 2003
Henry David Thoreau on finding the present
“In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 26, 2003
The Amazon.com factor
This morning I awoke to discover that -- in less than 12 hours -- the Amazon.com ranking of Vagabonding: An...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
Freya Stark on the art of travel
"Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in its frame...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 25, 2003
Jeffrey Tayler on writing about one's travels
"My writing derived from the conviction I conceived during my college years: one should lead one’s life as if one...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 24, 2003
Live from the Acropolis Steakhouse and Strip Club
If there has been a distinctive moment that has defined my travels in recent weeks, it came this evening at...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (3)
David Sedaris on life abroad
"What I found appealing in life abroad was the inevitable sense of helplessness it would inspire. Equally exciting would be...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 23, 2003
Vagabonding in this week's Bohemian
An article about Vagabonding appeared today in the North Bay Bohemian, an alternative paper that serves Marin, Sonoma and Napa...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (3)
Jean-Paul Sartre on adventure
"'What sort of adventures?" I asked him, astonished. 'All sorts, Monsieur. Getting on the wrong train. Stopping in an unknown...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 22, 2003
Chuck Palahniuk on the danger of possessions
"You buy furniture. You tell yourself this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 21, 2003
Rolf Potts on the spiritual side of travel
"Too often on the road, people seek the spiritual side of life in the same determined way they might join...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
January 20, 2003
Dean MacCannell on what defines a travel attraction
"The point is that anything that is remarked, even little flowers or leaves picked up off the ground and shown...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
More props for Vagablogging
This blog has received some more appreciated attention in recent days. World Hum calls Vagablogging "chock full of thoughtful travel...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 18, 2003
Bob Shacochis rants on the importance of living abroad
Back in November, Men's Journal featured a list of the "60 Things A Man Must Do in His Lifetime". By...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (7)
Vagabonding book winners
Five people have won copies of Vagabonding through a contest I've been running at Vagabonding.net. The winners are: Jessica Pancoast...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
Rosita Forbes on the anticipation of travel
"That is the charm of a map. It represents the other side of the horizon where everything is possible. It...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 17, 2003
LeRoi Jones on closed-mindedness
"Luxury, then, is a way of / being ignorant, comfortably / An approach to the open market / of least...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
January 16, 2003
Kurt Vonnegut on travel suggestions
"As Bokonon says: 'Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.'" --Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle (1963)...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 15, 2003
Herman Melville on coming home
"Round the world! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct?...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 14, 2003
Rolf Potts on finding adventure
"The secret of adventure is not to carefully seek it out, but to travel in such a way that it...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 13, 2003
Paul Theroux on discovering the new
"The profoundest satisfaction in travel is a sense of discovery, the private thrill of seeing something new or seeing it...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 12, 2003
Walt Whitman on the allure of the road
"You air that serves me with breath to speak! / You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 10, 2003
Annie Dillard on why we should travel
"Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we sense them. The least we can do is try to be...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 09, 2003
Vagabonding Q&A in USA Today
Jayne Clark from USA Today spoke to me about Vagabonding during a wee-hours phone call to Bangkok earlier this week....Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
Vagablogging feedback
This slot is reserved for general feedback on this weblog, as well as my Vagabonding book. You can also use...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (5)
January 08, 2003
Paul Fussell on humility
"Travelers learn not just foreign customs and curious cuisines and unfamiliar beliefs and novel forms of government. They learn, if...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 07, 2003
Mark Twain on travel snobbery
"We wish to learn all the curious, outlandish ways of all the different countries, so that we can 'show off'...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 06, 2003
Long Die Travel Writing!
By Rolf Potts As a travel writer, it was interesting for me to learn that contemporary travel literature is now...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 05, 2003
John Steinbeck on the unexpected
"Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 04, 2003
Phil Cousineau on travel preparation
"Mapping out dozens of deeply focused trips around the world has convinced me that preparation no more spoils the chance...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
Props for Vagablogging
Vagablogging got a nice mention this week in Jen Leo's travel writer's resource, Written Road. "I'm happy to say that...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
January 03, 2003
Rolf Potts on cultural awareness
"Cultural awareness is often the positive product of rather negative experiences -- and no amount sensitivity training can compare to...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 02, 2003
Jeff Greenwald on why we travel
"There are deeper reasons to travel -- itches and tickles on the underbelly of the unconscious mind. We go where...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (1)
Pusanweb judging and stories on life in Korea
Late last month I served as a judge in the Pusanweb Writing Contest. Pusan is where I lived as an...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
January 01, 2003
Three quotes on travel and new beginnings
"When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the...Read this article
This article by Rolf | Read comments (0)
